The first month of this new year has been and gone, and, compared to last year’s all-time record, the market is already ahead of pace.

According to VFACTS data supplied by car-makers and compiled by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, the number of new cars, SUVs and commercials registered climbed 0.6 per cent over January 2016’s figure, to 84,910 units.

The margin between passenger vehicles and higher-riding SUVs also shrank away to almost nothing, with the figures showing 34,920 versus 34,127 respectively, ahead of 13,942 light commercials (vans and utes) and 1921 heavy commercials (trucks and big buses).

The five top-selling vehicle segments were small cars (17,830, up about 2 per cent), medium SUVs (13,956, up about 9 per cent), large SUV (10,970, up 2 per cent), 4×4 utes (9526, down almost 4 per cent) and small SUVs (8182, down 4 per cent).

Top-selling brands for January 2017

Toyota was (as usual) the most popular brand with 12,554 sales, about on par with last year’s result. Given January is usually a slim month for fleet sales, an important factor for several key Toyota vehicles, its figures for January are generally lower than other months.

Next was the nation’s top full importer Mazda with 10,067 units (up 0.5 per cent), ahead of Holden (7184, showing some welcome growth to be up 5 per cent), Hyundai(6705, down 4 per cent) and Ford(5912, up 7 per cent).

Rounding out the top ten were Mitsubishi (5075, up 1.4 per cent), Nissan (5012, down 10 per cent), Kia (another massive month of 4015 sales, up 29 per cent), Subaru (4009, up 18 per cent) and Volkswagen (3995, down 8 per cent).

Knocking on the door of the top ten were Honda (3470, up 20 per cent), Mercedes-Benz (2973, down 4 per cent), BMW (2104, up a little over 1 per cent), Audi (2025, down 5.5 per cent) and Suzuki (1481, down 10 per cent as Swift stocks decline ahead of the new model).

As-yet unmentioned brands that struggled included: Alfa Romeo (46, down 26 per cent as it gears up for the Giulia launch process), Chrysler (21, down 62 per cent), Citroen (37, down 49 per cent), Foton Light (58, down 13 per cent), Isuzu Ute (1095, down 21 per cent), Jeep (434, down 66 per cent), Lexus (566, down 11 per cent), Peugeot (218, down 30 per cent), SsangYong (13, down 71 per cent) and Volvo Car (391, down 18 per cent).

Top-selling models for 2017

Australia’s top-selling vehicle was the Mazda 3, which has become something of a traditional January winner due to its strength in the private market.

Its 3473 sales put it ahead of its Toyota Corolla arch rival on 2943. Rounding out the podium was last year’s annual winner, the Toyota HiLux on 2702.

Miscellaneous data from January 2017

Sales by State: NSW (29,068, up 2.4 per cent), Victoria (24,636, up 9.4 per cent), Queensland (15,709, down 8.6 per cent), Western Australia (7037, down 10.5 per cent), South Australia (5134, down 1.4 per cent), ACT (1438, up 5 per cent), Tasmania (1337, up 3 per cent) and NT (652, up 4.2 per cent).

Sales by type: Private (46,905, up 4.2 per cent), business (31,393 (down 5.7 per cent), government (2552, down 4.2 per cent) and rental (2139, up 16 per cent).